GRAND RAPIDS -- Being selected for the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame is a pretty serious
accomplishment.

But Gus Macker, aka Scott McNeal, never takes anything too seriously.

"We're the fun part of sports," he said.

Perhaps that's why he arrived for Thursday's induction ceremonies at Gerald R. Ford Museum in a pink stretch limousine. And high-fived everyone in sight on his way into the building. And wore sneakers with his suit up onto the podium.

"We're kind of like Barnum and Bailey," said McNeal, 54, co-founder of Macker three-on-three outdoor basketball, an almost circus-like phenomenon that has drawn national attention and attracted thousands of players and spectators since its inception in 1974. "For us to get dressed up like this in suits is kind of out of character.

"People are probably wondering what we are doing in the Hall of Fame. It's not like we really had game or anything."

But seriously, Gus Macker basketball has had a prominent place in the West Michigan sports landscape since McNeal and his brother and co-founder, Mitch McNeal, created it in the family driveway in Lowell 37 years ago.

Now, it has a place in the Hall of Fame as the 11th winner of the Warren Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award, named after the late WOOD-TV sports anchor and presented annually since 2000.

"Lasting that long is an impressive thing," Scott McNeal said. "I guess it means we're a lot older than we think we are. We think we can still play."

Also inducted into the Hall on Thursday night as part of Class of 2010 were:

Kristin Koetsier-Miller

Kristin Koetsier-Miller, a Miss Basketball Award winner at Grandville High School in 1998 and star at Western Michigan University, where she now is an assistant coach. In 2002, Koetsier-Miller won the Jimmy V Foundation's Comeback and the Honda Inspiration awards after overcoming two life-threatening blood disorders to get back on court for the Broncos.

Ron Kutschinski, a three-time state champion in track at East Grand Rapids High School and a Big Ten champion at the University of Michigan who went on to represent the U.S. in the 800 meters at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

Mitch Lyons, a football standout at Forest Hills Northern High School and Michigan State who had a seven-year career in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons.

Ron Kutschinski

Matt Steigenga, a Mr. Basketball Award winner from South Christian High School who led the Sailors to the 1988 Class B state championship before a stellar career at Michigan State and a brief fling in the NBA.Scott McNeal summed up the talents of his fellow inductees this way:

"If I played against those guys, Matt would jump over me, Kristin would post me down, Mitch would knock me down and Ron would run around me."

But McNeal was seriously honored to be entering the Hall with the Warren Reynolds award.

Reynolds was a great booster of Macker basketball in the early years. And Hall of Fame president Mark Kimball, a former Macker organizer, said Reynolds would have been "very proud" to see the Mackers honored.

Mitch Lyons

"Warren was all about the fun of the event," McNeal said. "He used to do his sports show from Lowell when we still played the tournament in the driveway. He always interviewed my mom and dad. He was an early judge of the Miss Macker pageant.

"Plus, he was one guy who looked up to me, or at least saw eye to eye with me. We were both vertically challenged (about 5-foot-6)."

Macker basketball started a dramatic ascent from backyard creation to national prominence in 1985 when Sports Illustrated published a feature article. Participation exploded and expanded across the nation.

Two years later, the tournament moved from Lowell to Belding and by the early 1990s drew more than 5,400 teams for that one tournament.

Matt Steigenga

"When I tell our staff that now, they can't believe it," McNeal said. "They know how much work it is to run a tournament of 1,000 teams. They will ask, 'How did you run it?'

"I tell them, 'We didn't. It ran us.

THEY SAID IT

"When Greg Meyer called me about the Hall of Fame, he said there are only two ways to get in. Either you're dead, or you come (to the induction ceremonies). I asked if I could have a couple of days to think it over. But here I am.'' -- Kutschinski, who traveled from his home in Florida for the event

"It was scary. I don't know if I realized how serious it was ... those awards (Jimmy V Foundation and Honda Inspiration) mean more than any basketball award. It is awesome to be a part of people who have come back like that.'' -- Koetsier-Miller on being honored for overcoming blood disorders and a knee injury

"When I was in high school, my mom was a Michigan fan. My father and I both jumped on the Sparty bandwagon. We must have been gluttons for punishment then. It sure is nice now to be that little brother who came back on them.'' -- Lyons, with a not-so-subtle reference to former Michigan running back Mike Hart